ENG - UN CC:Learn

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
MALAYSIA
MDG7
Progress Towards Environmental Sustainability
THAILAND
Georgetown
Kuala
Lumpur
VIETNAM
South China
Sea
Kuala Terengganu
BRUNEI
MALAYSIA
Johor Baharu
SINGAPORE
I N D O N E S I A
PHILIPPINES
Like all countries, Malaysia has had to grapple with environmental degradation issues. Urban-based economic
growth has led to increased potential for pollution of the environment. The principles of sustainable development
have progressively been integrated into national development plans and policy making in Malaysia. Malaysia is
also an active participant in reviewing environmental issues at the regional and international level and has ratified
most major multilateral environmental agreements
The total land area for Malaysia is about 33 million hectares of which 19.5 million hectares or 59.5% of the total land
area are under forest cover. Out of the 19.5 million hectares, 14.3 million hectares are gazetted as Permanent Reserve
Forests and are managed under the Forestry Department of each state.
Crude oil and petroleum products, which provided about 53% of the total energy supply in 2000, are predicted to grow at 6.3 % per
year during the Eighth Malaysia Plan period (2001–2005). Natural gas, which contributed 37%, is projected to grow by 8.8% per
annum. By 2005, the contribution of crude oil and petroleum products is anticipated to decline to 50.9%, while natural gas and coal
are expected to increase to 39.9% and 5.9% respectively. Similarly, the use of renewable energy is expected to be intensified.
QUICK FACTS
CURRENT PORTFOLIO BUDGET
Total UNDP-GEF and Co-Finance: $110,104,950
Total UNDP and Co-Finance: $1,749,700
Total MPU and Bilateral: $4,483,245
Total: $116,337,895
Increased access to improved water sources has been a powerful factor in improving health and reducing the spread of infectious
diseases in Malaysia, especially among rural communities. As water supply coverage has increased amongst rural population, the
incidence of cholera, typhoid, and dysentery has fallen markedly.
The government has been actively promoting environmental sanitation
to improve the health status of the population since the
1970s. Almost the entire urban population has been supplied with
reticulated sewerage systems and septic tanks by local authorities.
In rural areas, sanitary latrines had been provided for 99% of the
population by 2000 compared to just 83%in 1990. 1
Cumulative Total ODS Phased-Out: 2,949.2 ODP tonnes
SPOTLIGHT
Land Rights, Cultural Protection and Poverty Reduction 2
Over the past several decades, destructive logging has caused the loss of a third of the tropical forest
cover in Asia, inhibiting species survival and threatening the existence of indigenous communities.
Previous attempts to defend land rights and prevent illegal logging enterprises from inflicting further
degradation have done little to protect these vital habitats.
In the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, the Uma Bawang Resident's Association (UBRA) represents
a community of under 100 people that successfully used blockades, and now innovative mapping efforts,
to defend customary land rights. Since UBRA's first Geographic Information System mapping workshop in 1995, other communities
increasingly use this technique to defend their borders and traditional lands legally, in court. The Association also helps communities
learn a wide variety of skills that provide cash income, including communal rice farming and milling, pig-rearing, handicrafts
marketing, growing pepper and fruit trees, and developing sustainable teakwood plantations. Projects supported by UBRA
provide incomes without endangering forest resources and are complemented by work in reforestation and restoration of damaged
forest lands. Since 1992, the Association has planted 4,000 tree seedlings in degraded areas, with an average of 200 fruit trees
planted per family.
In recognition of their outstanding efforts for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation, UNDP’s Equator Initiative awarded
UBRA with a US$ 30,000 grant in 2002. UBRA has used the grant to build and expand a community centre, enlarging the
LAND
reforestation project area, restoring and replanting indigenous tree species, as well as other valuable non-timber products within
the communal rehabilitation forest area. Other future initiatives include a revolving fund to assist women’s craft activities,
short-term cash cropping, inter-community activities, project maintenance and a contingency fund for publications, communication
and campaigning.
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